Awkward

I have no idea why the words April and London decided to be links in my last post. It's weird! Awkward that that happened! Don't click on them because I have no idea why they are there!

Happy Friday everybody!

St. Paddy! Not Patty! :)

Sweet but dangerous! I love this petit almost 1 year old!

This little boy needed a nap outside in the fresh air before he could join the party!

Maria and Lukas with Spike, grandpa and Anges! I love my family!

Very dedicated to St. Patricks Day!

Green godis! Yum!

Yes, been forever and it is ridiculous, I know. Sorry. I just had somebody request to be my friend on facebook who has been following my blog and that inspired me! Your comments and support are what keep me going! So keep it coming!

We had a lovely St. Patrick's Day celebration with Fredrik's family last weekend. We have been doing this every year since I moved here. I am not Irish or have any Irish accenstry, but it is just too fun and they love it! Plus it gives me an excuse to invite every body over and cook yummy food! The past 2 weeks I have done an all green theme but this year it was Irish food. I made a delicious beef stew (which stewed for 5 hour and turned out awesome), spinach dip (my only green food of the day) and Irish soda bread. It was a great meal, but best of all I got to spend time with my Swedish niece and nephew. The niece of which is turning 1 in April! I cannot believe it!

Speaking of April, we will be heading to London for a 2 year anniverary trip. I cannot wait! I have always wanted to go to London and it is about time we got there! Since we are only a 2 hours flight away! It is going to be so lovely. I have everything all planned out. Including what we are doing while we are there and the restaurants we are going to eat at. One of which is our anniversary dinner at one of Gordon Ramsey's restaurants for a steak sharing night! Romantic, huh?!

Now did these pictures get you in the mood for some fudgey delicious BOX brownies! Yea. I pride myself on making as much as I can from scratch. And I mean as much as I can. Tomato (spagetti and pizza sauce), pancakes, biscuits, brownies, cakes, etc. But this was a late night experiment and it was delicous. Of course you COULD do a from scratch brownie but sometimes it just makes your night when you do hardly any work and you get to eat something this good!

Nutella and peaut butter and fudge brownies (yea!)

1 brownie box mix plus ingredients

1\2 c. mini chocolate chips

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1\4 c. nutella

1\4 c. peanut butter

Make brownies as on the box and add 1\2 c mini chocolate chips. Pour into pan (whatever size you decide to use as on the box) Over medium heat, heat up condesnsed milk, nutella and peanut butter. Let cool completely and use half to swirl into brownie mix. Bake brownies as on box and place the other half of nutella\pb mixture in the fridge to cool (do not eat by the spoonful while brownies are cooking because you simply cannot wait to eat some sugar). Take brownies from oven and cool completely and after cooled spread the left over mixture over the brownies.

Place on a cute plate and pretend like you spent hours making this dessert and enjoy!

Säfsen

Two weeks ago we went on a small weekend trip to Säfsen, which is 5 hours north of Göteborg. It was a really nice weekend of skiing (not for me), snowboard (also not for me), drinking (also not for me), cooking and baking (both for me!). We went with a couple, Ileana and Joel and our good friend Lina. Us girls all know each other from a previous job. I am so lucky I met them and still have them as good friends!

Me, Lina, Joel and Ileana being ''tourists''.

2 snowboarders and 1 skiier.

15 trails but only 7 were open.

Swedish Christmas ''bok''. This thing was huge and really neat!

Our very Swedish looking cabin. It's my dream to own a typical Swedish red house. They are just so cute!

It looks so surreal! I loved walking out in the cold, fresh, snowy air with Ileana, just taking and laughingAnd of course, playing out ''who am I?'' game. We love this game because somebody always comes up with really funny people and things. PS, this man is so amazing and is really getting and deserving of more and more of my love every day. I am so lucky! PPS, his paper says ''the zombie cat'', which is a stupid inside joke!

So enough of all these trip pictures! Next post, we get back to food!

For now, I can tell you a little about my new job. I am starting whole new classroom with 2 others teachers. Right now it is only me and one of my colleagues and we ordered all new furniture, rugs, toys, office supplies, art supplies, etc, etc, etc. We got them this week and it was so funny unloading it all and seeing it all! We have a whole new room with big huge, low windows with lots of space! This week and last week was a lot of paper work, organizing, sending stuff to the parents, etc. Next week starts the organizing of the room, the fun part! Then February 15th, 5 cute little ''babies'' come. 18 months old! Then 2 weeks later, 5 more! Then two weeks later 5 more! 15 new babies! It's really been a lot of fun (with a touch of stress here and there), but I am so excited and happy to finally have a classroom to call my ''own'' (even though I am sharing with 2 others). The colleague I am working with now I get along with really well and it has been fun working with her and getting to know her. Hopefully this is the job I have been hoping to have since I arrived in Sweden!

Hope everybody had a great first month of 2012! Now we are in the month of birthdays!

Keeping with tradition.

Updating ridiculously late when it comes to too many pictures and too many pictures to wrap my head around. So here is a simple picture story of my wonderful 2 weeks in Kansas.

I got to share my sisters first legal drink with her on her 21st birthday.

Spend time with creepy face santa in my mom's beautifully decorated house full of love, laughs, food and people I love.

Spend ''quality time'' with my ridiculous best friend, Teryl.

Spend time with my daddy.

Meet Jayme's baby boy, Rowan.

Throw a bridal shower for my best friend, Ashley and spend time with my girlfriends.

Watch Tanner be a crazy 3 year old boy.

Eat with my mom, sisters and niece at Ruths house.

Dress up like a present and act ridiculous with my girlfriends

Celebrate Christmas with my girlfriends at our annual Christmas party for the first time in 2 years.

Share laughs, smiles, drinks and good times with these beautiful women.

Be in amazement at this young lady. She is spectacular and I love her so much!

Watch the joy on a 7 year olds face while she opened her first Easy Bake.

Watch my mother be an amazing ''yaya''.

See my nephew wear a Swedish cartoon shirt :)

Watch my sister with her fiance and feel so excited that they found each other and will have a life with each other.

Spend time with my brothers and sisters and create new inside jokes ''Jesus Christ hoodies''.

Celebrate my niece's 7th birthday with her and providing a Swedish touch with Pippi Longstocking decorations.

Spend time with my big brother, who I am so amazed by and proud of.

Joy.

Love.

Those 2 weeks were so full of amazing things, times, memories, food, drinks, and I could go on! I am so thankful I have such a home to visit and so many people to see.

Now in 2012 we are enjoying our time together! I love living in Sweden and I love being with Fredrik. My heart is so full and I really feel like a lucky person!

Thanksgiving (a bit later)

I know it has been 2 weeks since my big party, but I was waiting on my dear friend, Crystal to get the pictures to me. As many hostess' know, it's not easy hosting and taking pictures! So Crystal was in charge of the pictures! And she always does a great job!
My glögg station. This was at the front door! First things first, alcohol!

The only down side to not taking your own pictures, you end up in a couple. Haha. Notice the food lined up and ready to be eaten!
Crock pot creamed corn, mashed potatoes, honey glazed ham, turkey and gravy being made!

Yammy Yams!These were in the rolls. Each roll at a different thing to say. This one was funny because there was actually a very small out break of ecoli at the school my friends work for (which I used to work for) and we had discussed it earlier in the evening and how awful it was. My friend's son got this and said 'I am thankful that I don't have...ecoli'. Priceless!A plate full of food!The guests! This is fewer people than expected, but I have winter cold and flu season to thank for that! Still a great turn out and lots of fun!My lovely photographer, Crystal, and her husband Thomas!Have to say thank you to my wonderful husband who helped with SO much! He dealt with extra tables, chairs, decorating and a wife who had 1 or 2 close nervous breakdowns! I am such a lucky person to have this man by my side.Time for dessert! Homemade apple cider made an appearance and it was delish!
Pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cream cheese bread and apple pie!
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cream cheese dip with ginger cookies and some chocolate covered pretzels.
And it's definitely not a party if you don't have the children jumping on all the coats on your bed!
And a minor above the eyebrow head injury!
Even made them take home a ball of pumpkin spice popcorn! Keep em' fed!

This truly was a pleasure to have and I felt so loved and happy that I have so many people, after only 1 year in Sweden, to invite to my home, share an amazing tradition with, and call my friends. It felt like a real family, traditional Thanksgiving!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I have Christmas to look forward to! And holy cow, what a Christmas I have! In less than 5 days I will be headed to Kansas for a 2 week, much needed, Christmas with the family! It has been 2 years since I celebrated Christmas in Kansas and it will be a sure welcome feeling. I will miss Mr. Josefsson like crazy, but this is the life we, and I, have chose. Luckily, I get the best of both worlds. I wouldn't trade this life for anything else! It's so full of excitement! I feel like everyday is some sort of adventure. Not only do exciting things happen to me, on a regular basis, but embarrassing things, too. And that is just funny!

So hopefully I will have time to update while I am in Kansas, but I hope I am so busy I won't have time! No offense dear readers. Plus, most of you who read are Kansans! No need to update, I'll be there!